Three days later, Matt was still thinking about that kiss. It had come as no surprise that Sam’s lips were incredibly soft. As he tossed his saddle over his horse’s back, he realized that what had surprised him was that she hadn’t shoved him away.
He cinched the saddle into place. She was a lady. He could see it in the way she ate…delicately, slowly taking the spoon of stew to her mouth. Not shoveling the food in, like the other trail hands did. She never talked around a biscuit. She never belched to show her appreciation of a meal.
She was so danged female that he was grateful trailing a herd left men too weary to notice much of anything except the slow passing of the minutes.
The jangling of spurs had him glancing over his shoulder. Jake was coming toward him like there was no tomorrow.
“Is there a reason Sam can’t saddle his own horse?” Jake asked brusquely.
Matt shrugged. “Sam’s my partner. I have to saddle my horse. Might as well get his ready.”
“It’s not a good idea to spoil a fella,” Jake admonished.
“Just doing a good deed.”
“Then you can do another good deed. I want you to ride up to the next river, take a look-see, and determine if we need to guide the cattle over slow or fast. If they had heavy snows up in Colorado, they’ll be melting by now and it’ll affect the rivers here. If the water’s high, we’ll spread the cattle out, take ’em over slow. If it’s low, we’ll bunch ’em together and get them across fast. You ought to be able to get there before nightfall. Just camp by the river and head back at first light. That ought to give us enough time to determine how to move the cattle.”
Matt nodded, even though he had reservations about leaving Sam. He considered suggesting that Jake give the task to someone else, but he was supposed to be learning on this trip so he could serve as trail boss on the next one or the one after that.
Sam was distracting him from his mission. He ought to be spending more time talking with Jake, learning from him. “Will do.”
“Take Sam with you.”
Matt’s stomach dropped clear down to his boots. Him and Sam alone…on the prairie…at night? Not if his life depended on it. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”
Jake arched a brow. “Why not?”
“Sam’s such a greenhorn—”
“And he’s going to stay a greenhorn if he doesn’t start pulling his weight.”
“She—sheez…he—he pulls his weight. You said so yourself when Sam fought the fire.”
“And ever since that day, there’s been something going on between you and Sam.”
Matt’s breath backed up into his lungs until his chest ached. What was his attitude toward Sam revealing? “What do you mean?”
“I can’t quite figure it out. He looks at you like you’re a rattler about to strike and you’re watching him like you’re expecting horns to sprout out of his head at any minute. The way you two are dancing around each other is making the men and the cattle nervous. Your pa is expecting you to learn how to lead this bunch. You can start by resolving whatever differences you’re having with Sam.”
Matt stood rooted to the spot as Jake strode away. It was the difference between him and Sam that was causing the problems.
The difference being that Sam had curves where Matt didn’t.
Sam tried to ignore the fella riding beside her—dismiss him just as diligently as he was ignoring her. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back so the sun could touch her face. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to ride an entire day without a bandanna covering her face. Without dust rising up from the tread of two thousand cattle to coat her clothing and any exposed skin.
She felt downright giddy. She wasn’t going to let Matt spoil her day away from the cantankerous beasts. And tonight there’d be no cattle to watch. As calming as she found the night shift, she was looking forward to sleeping through the night without being awakened with a quietly murmured, “It’s time.”
“Stop doing that,” Matt ordered.
She snapped her eyes open and looked at him. “Doing what?”
“Looking like…I don’t know. Looking like you just stepped into paradise.”
“Just because you were raised on sour milk doesn’t mean that I have to act like I was,” she retorted, tilting her nose in the air.
“The milk I was raised on has nothing to do with my disposition. The responsibility for that lies entirely with your deception.”
“Aren’t you getting tired of harping on me lying to you back in Faithful? Why can’t you forgive me for telling you I was a boy?”
“Because your lie put us in danger.”
“Honestly, Matt, I don’t see how my being a girl is hurting anyone. No one is sick or bleeding. No one is dying. I’m doing my job. Doing it well, according to Jake.”
“The problem, Sam, is that I’m not doing mine.”
“The problem then is your problem. Just stop thinking of me as a girl,” she said.
He raked his gaze over her. “That’s a little hard to do.”
“So is doing without and going hungry and being cold in winter.”
He averted his gaze. “I’m responsible for you, Sam.”
“I don’t need you looking out for me. I can be responsible for myself.” Why couldn’t he get that notion through his thick skull? She supposed she should admire his dogged determination to take care of her, but his obsession was keeping her from reaching her goal.
“As soon as we’re close enough to a town that I can get you to safely and you can catch a stagecoach home, I’m telling Jake the truth,” Matt said.
“I’ll hate you when you do that.”
He gave her a sad smile. “Then that’ll make two of us who hate me. But if I learned one thing during the war, Sam, it was that I had to do what I thought was best for the boys in my command. Otherwise, they’d haunt me. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you…or if anything happened to any of the trail hands because I hadn’t come forward and told Jake that I knew you were a girl.”
She heaved a heavy sigh. “How far is the nearest town?”
“Now, that I’m not sure about.”
She would hope it was Sedalia. If they got the cattle to Missouri, then surely they’d pay her. And that was all she really wanted. To be paid.
And if she never set eyes on Matt again afterward—it would be too soon.
The river didn’t look swollen or treacherous, but Matt knew things weren’t always as they appeared. Sam had taught him that painful lesson.
With the sun retreating so the night could begin casting its shadows over the land, Matt neared the bank. He studied the flow of the river. He knew he should test the waters by riding his horse across, but he wasn’t in the mood to spend the night in drenched britches. And he couldn’t shuck them with Sam sitting on her horse beside him.
“You think it’s safe?” she asked.
“Looks it, but I need to check the current out more closely to be sure. Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
He glared at her. “Because I’m stripping down.”
Her cheeks burned bright crimson and she released a tiny “Oh.”
“I don’t want to get my clothes wet,” he explained.
She nodded briskly. “I understand.”
“Do you, Sam? Do you realize that I wouldn’t have this problem if you were a boy?”
“You don’t have the problem now. I’ve already seen your bare backside!”
Now Matt’s face grew hot. “Well, you wouldn’t have if I’d known the truth. Now, close your eyes,” he ordered as he dismounted.
“I’ll do you one better. I’ll just mosey on out of your way.” Sam urged her horse toward the distant brush until they were out of his sight.
As Matt grabbed his horse’s reins and ducked behind the trees, he should have felt more comfortable. Instead, he felt his skin turning three shades of red as he thought about how he’d removed his clothes that first evening. He’d certainly given her an eyeful then.
He took off his clothes, feeling as vulnerable as a newborn baby. He mounted his horse and gave him a good, solid kick to prod him forward. The more quickly he went into the river, the faster he could get out and put his clothes back on.
It wasn’t until he was calf-deep into the river that he realized Sam hadn’t agreed to close her eyes. She’d only offered to get out of the way.
Sam hadn’t meant to spy on Matt. She’d dismounted and was walking her horse farther away when Cinnamon had simply nudged Sam’s backside with her nose. Sam had turned to admonish the mare—and caught sight of Matt sitting on his horse like a marble statue she’d seen in a book at school. All hard lines and carved muscles.
She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to get his clothes wet. Apparently he hadn’t brought extras, while she had given a lot of thought to being near a river with no one around except Matt.
Matt, who knew she was a girl. Once he had his time alone in the river, she had plans to have a few private moments in it as well. She’d brought clean clothes for the occasion.
Matt still wore his cowboy hat. It sent shade over his bronzed back. The river appeared calm, but a few hundred cattle had the power to send the waters to swirling. And they had close to two thousand.
She considered turning away and giving Matt his privacy, but now that she was watching him, she decided it was for the best. What if he slipped off the saddle? She needed to be prepared to rescue him. Jake probably expected them to watch out for each other.
Halfway across the river, the water was lapping at Matt’s thighs. Slowly, he turned his horse around and headed back toward shore.
With a sigh of relief, she spun on the balls of her feet and began to pay a good deal of attention to her own horse. No need for him to know that she’d been admiring him.
“Why don’t you start gathering some dry driftwood and such for a fire?” Matt yelled from behind a tree. “I’ll scare us up a rabbit for dinner.”
“How was the current?” she asked as he broke through the brush, horse in tow.
“Not too strong. We should be able to get the cattle across without as much trouble as we had at the last passing.” He held her gaze. “Are you gonna be all right crossing the river?”
“Sure.” If her stomach would loosen up a notch or two.
“I’ll see to the horses before I find us something to eat.”
“Matt, I can see to my own horse,” she told him.
He rubbed the side of his nose. “I know you can, but as long as we’re out here away from the others, I don’t have to pretend that you’re a boy. And since that is the case, I’ve decided to treat you like a lady. So I’ll see to both horses.”
“You need to be careful that you don’t develop bad habits while we’re out here. I don’t want anyone figuring out that I’m not a boy,” she said.
“I’ve already gotten into some bad habits where you’re concerned,” he admitted.
“Such as?”
“Bedding down each night and thinking about that durned kiss.” He turned on his heel and strode away.
Unfortunately for her, she’d developed the same bad habit.